


Born and Raised

by SomethingOfFandoms



Series: A God's World (but its with character studies and alternate universes) [5]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, MCYTs, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF, mcyt
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, And it kinda works, Character Study, Gen, I was really basing him off my dad, Kinda, a shocker right, accidentaly wrote techno as midly autistic, and kinda is, but its nice to have a friend, im litterally the worst mix of tommy and techno, or seems like it, sam listens, sam tries to understand techno more, tommy doesnt realise how shit his family has been, tommy is stable?, tommy vents to sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29607801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomethingOfFandoms/pseuds/SomethingOfFandoms
Summary: Sam knows a thing or two about people. He was raised in a place where he had to understand how people work to survive. So he learns about Tommy, who in turn tells Sam about Technoblade, and a bit about how he's fairing. After all, He seems perfectly stable.~~Can be read as a stand-alone, but is meant for the series universe.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Sam | Awesamdude, Sam | Awesamdude & Technoblade, Sam | Awesamdude & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Tommyinnit, Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit, TommyInnit & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: A God's World (but its with character studies and alternate universes) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2142678
Comments: 6
Kudos: 122





	1. Chapter 1

Sam was born a hybrid, but raised a Warden. 

He was dropped off at the prison, something common for orphans, and something even more common for creeper hybrids. People thought that they could be used as something to scare prisoners, to make sure that the prisoners stayed in-line because the person looking after them could kill them at a moment's notice. 

Creeper hybrids are hard to raise, with far too high of a childhood mortality rate. Too much fear, too much anger, and not only would the child explode, but also bring the house down with them. 

So he was raised to stay calm, something that Wardens were known for. He was raised to be intimidating and calculated, looking for breakouts and riots while never putting him or other people in danger. 

This stayed with him long after he left the prison. There was new employment, and he didn't agree with what they were doing so he left. He started building, something that was methodical to get materials, and still made him use his brain to figure out how to put the image he had in mind into the world. 

His first builds did not look pretty, but he kept them up as he ventured farther out into the world. He found out uses for Redstone, trading villagers for books on how it works. 

He learned about the intricacies of droppers, the use of honey blocks. He was able to stay alive on his own quite easily, taking a day out of each moon cycle to gather all the food he needed. He has a base of operations for some of the harder clocks he needed, finding Redstone operations to make the blocks he needed right at his own house. 

It was then that he crossed paths with Dream, who sought him out by word of mouth. Sam decided that he could trust this man and that he was capable of great things if he was able to find out where Sam lived through only wandering traders. 

Dream had told him of his land and asked Sam to join the beginning of his nation. Dream needed a calm protector, as well as someone who knew about Redstone. Alyssa's expertise was narrow, and Sapnap was strong but explosive. 

Dream offered him untouched lands and companionship without hesitation and even an extra pair of hands for packing up anything he needed and transported. 

Sam smiled, shut down all his Redstone contraptions, and decided to start anew here. 

But as time went on, Dreams' true nature showed. Something possessive and frightening. Sam left the nation closely followed by Alyssa. He nether-traveled and stored his belongings in the side of a mountain. 

He hoped Alyssa's house would remain the same when they returned. 

Alyssa did end up leaving, heading back to her home, and within days Sam got word of her death. 

It was the closest he'd been to exploding. 

So he came back. 

He watched the fighting from the sidelines, opening up the mountain to make sure his friends had what they needed. Then they moved in, setting their home base in a neutral spot. Sam made sure that Tommy and Tubbo knew they could do the same. 

Tommy was the first to come to him after everyone had left. He'd put in the contract that Sam was required to protect him, something that Sam gladly signed with a heavy heart. 

Tommy was a puzzle, something that Sam wanted to figure out. He learned that to get Tommy focused, he needed to make it a game. To protect him, he needed to make it roleplay and not Armour. Tommy didn't want to make the hotel something to focus on and move on, but more as something to come back to after his attention shifted. 

He learned about his 'family' the most. 

Phil raised him and Wilbur, even though they both left home at 13 because Phil was adventuring with techno. Tommy always insisted it was so he could afford them, and Sam let it go. He couldn't help but think about the gold jewelry both techno and Phil show off. 

Eventually, though, Tommy turns to talk about his time after leaving Logsteadshire, something Sam knows nothing about. Tommy talks about how he should have known what techno was planning. 

"I mean he agreed to help me get my disks by saying that he's down for terrorism. I just assumed that because I told him I didn't want to blow the place up he would agree with it."

Sam has been taken measured breathes through the entire conversation, and he tunes out Tommy's next sentence to focus on the air leaving and entering his lungs, feeling his mouth dry on each exhale. 

"...could be me just not paying attention, but I don't think he answered. I just kind of wrote it off as a Techno thing cause he never talks to me unless I annoy him enough. So it's really my fault for not noticing when he wouldn't respond when I talked about not blowing things up. Which also wasn't often, so I should have said it more at least."

"I don't think it's your fault though Tommy." Sam interrupts, noticing that Tommy's rambling was turning more into a spiral. "From what you've said, you were very clear about not blowing up L'manberg. When you stuck to that, Technoblade shouldn't have been surprised, and not vengeful by any means."

"I mean I guess." Tommy shrugs, changing his shears out for an iron ax. "But it's Techno. He's not good with people. And I don't know how to get my point across on a good day so I needed to figure out how to make sure Techno knew it. Cause you have to do different things with Techno."

"Did Phil tell you that?" Sam asks before he can help himself. He already knows the answer. 

"Yeah! I mean Phil understands him the most, and can talk Technoblade."

The conversation continues on, Tommy switching to how Technoblades bee farm was different from Tubbos; more inhumane and automated. 

However, the conversation stayed at the back of Sam's mind enough for him to think about later when Tommy had gone off to visit Tubbo. 

Sam thinks back to the last conversations he's had with Tommy about Techno, and even one side conversation he had with Tubbo about the pig hybrid. Sam never really knew much about the man, but everything seems to fall into place after this newest conversation. 

For a brief moment, Sam wonders if he has a form of autism, before deciding that it was rude and dismissing the thought. 

Technoblade lives in his own world, something that isn't too bad if he was able to put himself in other people's shoes. Sam doesn't know if it's arrogance, with Technoblade thinking him better than Tommy. Perhaps he thinks that Tommy's problems can't be that big of a deal and deliberately doesn't think about how Tommy sees things. 

But after that conversation with Tommy, it's probably more likely that Techno just doesn't have the capability. And it's likely that Phil knew this, and just catered to Techno, making his problems first to make it easier on Techno. So Tommy was told to do things from Techno’s perspective. 

It also explains some things about Technoblade he knew about first hand. He saw from the trees as Tommy called on Techno while they were still in Pogtopia, asking for help in fighting Sapnap. When Sapnap said he just wanted his fish back, Technoblade was exasperated, telling Tommy to just give the fish back. He didn't place any value in the Beckerson, uncaring about how Sapnap had killed Henry the same day. 

He obviously didn't understand the value in the disks as well, or any material possession Tommy of Tubbo had. Tubbo told Sam that when Tommy had accidentally thrown Tubbos sword into the void, Techno had been confused as to why Tommy was trying so hard to get Tubbo to feel better. That Techno had seen a sword with one practically useless enchantment, rather than the sentiment and time it took them. 

Tubbo even said that he thought Techno didn't see the time Tubbo put into making the sword as worth it. Maybe because it took him the same amount of time to get a maxed-out sword. Maybe because he thought they were messing around instead of staying focused on the sword. 

Tubbo went on to say that It led to some great trades between Tommy and Techno in the past. Tommy could go and mine for a few days for a rare talisman, something that wasn't as important as the game he had made with Tubbo. Then Tommy would sell the talisman to Techno. He didn't need it, and Techno would sigh and friend Tommy for a few days over it. 

This train of thought is what really made it click for Sam that Technoblade couldn't see things from other people's point of view. He knew how long he had looked for his original armor, and how he hounded Tommy over getting his Ace of Peace back. Hell, the pig hybrid had gone with the butcher army and risked losing a life over his horse. 

But Techno didn't value them, per say. He valued the axes enchantments, and the levels it took to get the armor. He saw Carl, and saw how long it took to breed the horses to find one in the 90the percentile and saw the jump boost and health the horse had. 

Technoblade had his sentiments, but only from the power they had. He couldn't understand that the disks were worth the same, because it wasn't as powerful. 

Sam went to bed that night tired from all the thinking, but with one clear thought in mind. 

Technoblade had a very rigid way of thinking. 


	2. Tommy is STABLE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy’s perfectly fine on his own. Doesnt mean that it would be better with someone.   
> ~~~  
> It took less than a half-hour for me to write part two after questioning whether or not to continue lol

For everything that he has gone through, Sam can't help but notice how put together Tommy still seems. The builder can't even begin to name the things that Tommy has been through, especially without getting upset, and the fact that Tommy is here, chopping wood and laughing with him is either a miracle or a very bad sign. 

Upon meeting the kid, Sam thought that he was just able to hide his trauma well, perhaps just compartmentalizing everything or pushing it down until it explodes. But no one has seen him explode. He talks about his time in Logstedshire whenever prompted fairly easily, sharing how Dream would blow up his things with a look of disgust. 

Sam started the Big Innit Hotel planning to get to know Tommy better and see those signs of what he went through. The flinches at triggers that you only saw when you knew it was a trigger. Sam expected and even wanted to be able to help Tommy come to terms with what had happened. 

After all, Tommy was only 16. Not that it excuses some of the things he did, but he should have been punished as if he were a fully functional adult. In all honesty, the only person on the server who should be treated as an adult was Phil and even for him, the jury was still out on his capability. 

So Sam went along with the whole Sam Nook thing, as it kept Tommy occupied and happy. Sam felt that it was something that Tommy could have with no repercussions. The Hotel was most definitely going to cause problems one day, simply because of the server and well… Tommy. But Sam gave it his all to put on this character, thinking that as time went on, Tommy could have someone to fall back on no matter what. 

Sam started spending more time with Tommy because of that, not only as Sam Nook but also as AweSamDude. Tommy did seem to listen to Sam's infrequent rambling about Redstone mechanisms no matter how much he said it was nerdy. He even gave some rather obvious methods that Sam would have found eventually after troubleshooting. Sam did not question it, but his mind went to Tubbo whenever this happened. 

After all, Tommy was smart, to put it simply. His growth was from HyPixel, where he had a full-blown business from the sounds of it. It was a well-known scam, and most people were still drawn to it, making bad deals and the like knowing that it would never benefit them. Only people like Technoblade were reluctantly drawn in. 

So it made sense that he was smart just as much as it made sense how good he was at tactics, for much of the same reasons. HyPixel was a competitive place, only the best of the best rising to the top. Tommy understood that clearly, and found what he could do easily, and went full throttle into doing that. His skill in PVP wasn’t a natural thing, but something that Tommy had seen as a challenge almost. He knew he wasn't going to beat Dream in a 1v1, so how could he still win?

It impressed Sam, to be honest. Sam told him so when he realized how Tommy managed to be the winner even when odds were stacked against him. It was after idle chatter about Tommy’s time in HyPixel, and when Sam gave the compliment his full attention, he was expecting something quite different. 

For someone who has been betrayed as much as he has, Sam could see Tommy’s suspicions rise, wondering if Sam was buttering him up. A possibility was for Tommy to get flustered, not knowing how to respond to something genuine. He might just brush it off and boast about how good he was, all bravado and loud statements. 

Sam didn’t expect a wide grin thrown his way, along with the spruce logs Tommy had gathered during the trip, not the statement that followed. 

“I worked with what I knew I could do! Glad someone sees it.”

It was brutally honest, but not in a heart-wrenching way. It was simple, not too overstated with embellishments or swears. 

It was mature. Something that Sam berated himself for being surprised at. Tommy talks about how big of a man he is, and how mature he is from having “no father figure! I raised myself bitch!” Tommy wasn't necessarily just bluffing or resenting not having someone to lean on. 

And to Sam's continuing surprise, Tommy kept on being mature. He would berate himself after every instance, as he was really just playing into the character people throw Tommy into. After all, ‘Tommy’ and ‘mature’ were only known in a sentence together with a firm ‘is not’ between them. 

And yet if you didn't take the bravado as hiding insecurity, it was just a way of expression. Sam never saw Tommy as insecure, or what people may assume of him. When he made a mistake and changed the subject it didn’t seem to be a way to hide what he did wrong, but more because he didn’t want to dwell on it too long. It sometimes made him forget that he needed to fix those mistakes, but after a nudge from Sam Nook, Tommy seemed surprising… Stable?

If someone told Sam about everything that Tommy had been through, even just the things that Sam knew about, Sam would expect them to be untrusting, nervous, and hoarding every nice thing both materially and emotionally. If you pointed out Tommy to Sam, saying that this kid was the one who went through all that, Sam would assume that Tommy wanted that security and love but he was used to not receiving it, so he covered it up with fake words. 

And truth be told, it was exactly what Sam saw Tommy as. A kid who had the short end of the stick so many times, that if he said that he was used to it, he could push people away before they inevitably hurt him. 

Sam prided himself as being someone with a lot of empathy, to the point of it being bad for him. It was necessary when he was server hopping to stay alive. He needed to be able to tell if people were good or bad, and the only logical way he could do it was to put himself in their shoes. It had backfired on him quite often, from mistakes in his assessment of people to him taking on their feelings as well, but Sam was confident in his ability to see what Tommy needed. 

Looking back, ‘was’ is a defining word in that statement. 

Sam honestly had no clue what Tommy needed. Not that Sam Nook wasn’t great for Tommy, and the constant presence and protection were unwanted in any way. But after a while, Sam began to understand that at the very least, he had misunderstood Tommy. 

So he sat down and rethought everything he knew about the kid. 

Tommy. A child thrown into war punished rather unfairly for his actions. He lost trust in people close to him, and had worries about his own demise far too often. His attitude was brazen, boasting about how cool it was to be able to fight in the war, and talking about how nothing could harm him. 

Sam had assumed this attitude was because it was all he was used to, and if he told himself these things enough times, it might become the truth. To give himself some credit, it was certainly what Puffy had thought as well. It was a rather logical solution, and it fit the narrative quite well. 

But it wasn't the truth. The disconnect between Tommy's relationships and his attitude as a result of something else, and Sam had no idea what it was. Sam wanted to know though. Partially because he wanted to help Tommy and be what he needed yes, but also because this was turning more and more into a situation similar to a build he made that didn't do what he had envisioned. 

So Sam backtracked, just like he would do on the build. Get the facts first. In a Redstone build, he would do things part by part, isolating the problem. 

He knew Tommy was quick to boast about himself, often unrealistically. He knew some of the kid’s trauma. But the connection he made is something he doesn't know. The logical conclusion is that Tommy doesn't want to look or be weak, so he puts on a pretense. 

But he doesn't know that. He needs more information. 

And Tommy is rather willing to give it to him.

“Well, I’m used to not having someone to talk about all this shit to.” Tommy’s feet scuff the dirt around underneath him. 

Hey, Sam said he was willing, not comfortable.

“I just… ya know. Dealt with it by myself. I'm not dumb enough to push everything aside and say it's fine. Tubbo's the one to do that; he's content just sitting with bees and playing chess instead.”   
“How do you figure it out then?”

“I mean… Well, Tubbo and I were in the orphanage server in Hypixel before this.” Tommy says this like it's common knowledge, but Sam only just manages to keep the surprise off his face. “I always thought it was funny to be a big man and curse and stuff. Even though it wasn't a bad orphanage or anything, because I was labeled as a trouble maker, I would be in trouble a lot more. “

“More than the other kids? Or just in general?” Sam questions. 

“I mean, really just more than Tubbo. We’re both generally the same, but we speak to people differently. So he could miss days of classes and not turn in any work and be fine, while I would get in trouble for laughing when someone fell on their ass.”

“This led to you figuring things out?” Sam is completely lost.

“I mean yeah. Tubbo fucking had no idea what I was going through. So I just thought about it a lot until it was better. And I do it here too.”

“You just… think about it.”

“I mean I guess. I have conversations with myself sometimes? I think things that have happened from everyone's perspective. I mean, half the stuff I've gone through is bull shit, but everyone on here's a kid too. And I'm the cause for a lot of it. It's a middle ground between normal and the hunger games.”

“That's…” morbid, sam wants to say. He can't, but the look Tommy gives him shows he gets his point across. 

“I mean i don't mind it though. I'd leave if I did, and I call people out on their shit too. I'm not like... hiding anything with my humor, don't worry.” Tommy saw right through him. “I really just think what I do is funny, because it's true.”


End file.
